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[7.03] Optical Colors of Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects From the Keck I 10-m Telescope and the University of Arizona 2.3-m Telescope

S. C. Tegler (Northern Arizona Univ), W. Romanishin (Univ of Oklahoma)

Our ongoing survey of Centaur and Kuiper belt object colors includes accurate B-V and V-R colors for about 50 objects. We find 20 out of 20 classical KBOs on low eccentricity and low inclination orbits with perihelion distances, q, greater than 40 AU exhibit extremely red surface colors (Tegler and Romanishin, 2000, Nature, 407, 979; Tegler and Romanishin, 2002, Icarus, submitted). As a result of three nights on the Keck I telescope during April of 2002 and three nights on the 2.3-m telescope during September of 2001, we report B-V and V-R colors for additional Centaurs and KBOs, all with q < 40 AU. We use these latest measurements to test our controversial claim that objects with q < 40 AU divide into two color populations.

We thank the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program for their support and the NASA/Keck and University of Arizona TACs for their consistent allocation of telescope time.

If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is as follows:

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #3< br> © 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.